Might be a little early still to start the thread, but since we already know a majority of the teams slated to participate, I think discussion can start up already! One interesting thing that always seems to happen is that one or two "strong teams from strong leagues" end up getting bumped to the "unseeded" category for the R32 (and onward) because they haven't qualified out of their strong league in many years. This coming season, the prime candidate for that is Arsenal. With the teams that have qualified thus far, there are already 18 teams (if I've counted correctly) with a club coefficient higher than Arsenal's, 11 of them already guaranteed to avoid the preliminary group stage - which is even more surprising than maybe normal for teams in Arsenal's current situation due to the history that Arsenal has with the UWCL. (Also, both of the traditional Czech clubs look like they'll officially qualify soon, meaning the 18/11 should easily bump up to 20/12.) Who's ready for an Arsenal/Bayern R32 matchup next year?? X-D Side note: if Barca wins the current season's finale, then they might(?) pass PSG for the #3 spot in total club coefficient... I don't know the full calculation metrics, but they need to make up 8pts on PSG, so maybe not.
True but I pointed out Bayern b/c I though it would be a particularly interesting matchup after Bayern's mass exodus. I'd bet on Wolfsburg or Lyon over Arsenal any day.
Well, I'd like to see Arsenal play both Wolfsburg and Lyon. I haven't seen Wolfsburg very much but know they are formidable. But so are the Gunners with Miedema, Little, Nobbs, Mead, Van de Donk, Walti, Williamson, Evans--that is talented group. I just saw where Dominique Bloodworth, who is extremely versatile and underrated, is leaving Arsenal to join Wolfsburg, as it happens. As an Arsenal fan that is disappointing, and I wonder what prompted this move. I think the Women's Super League is better than the Bundesliga and will be better still in the next few years with ManU coming on and we'll see some of the mid-pack teams get better and better. I see that Rolfo is also joining Wolfsburg, from rival Bayern Munich. Someone else had mentioned that she was joining PSG, which didn't make much sense to me as PSG has some strong talent at forward already--but then so does Wolfsburg. It will be interesting to see who joins BM as that team pretty obviously needs attacking talent.
Sweden's going to keep falling on the rankings for sure. For the first time we will now have two unseeded teams. But I guess it makes sense as the league has been losing ground to the big football countries for a while now.
The Equalizer did a great feature piece the other week on the role Sweden has played historically and how it's trending now in a much more competitive market: https://equalizersoccer.com/2019/04/12/sweden-damallsvenskan-history-future-analysis/
As of right now, almost all of the R32 clubs are known - the top 11 leagues have all wrapped up, and many of the mid-low-tier leagues are in as well, the big exceptions thus far being Austria and Poland. Barca, of course, did not pass PSG for the third-overall seed. The 17 teams currently qualified to the R32 are ordered by club coefficient (rounded) as follows: Lyon (130), Wolfsburg (113), PSG (100), Barca (91), Bayern (68), ManCity (60), Brondby (50), FortunaH (47), Zurich (44), Glasgow (34), AtlMadrid (33), SptPraha (33), Arsenal/Pitea/K-G (18 identical), Juve (15), RVDV (15) Austria's highest-rated team StPolten (20) could still get a direct R32 entry if they finish first. (They could also be dropped to the preliminary group stage.) Teams that could still get automatic R32 berths, depending on how many countries join in, include SlvPraha (60), Fiorentia (27), Lugano (10), ChtMoscow (9). Not only is that in coefficient order, but also the order they would get added directly to the R32 if/when any get added. SlvPraha would theoretically bump FortunaH from the top 8 (i.e. for R16 seeding). Preliminary group teams with coefficients higher than 20 include: LSKK (41), BIIK (35), GintraU (28), Twente (27), Apollon (20) If Poland's Medyk Konin qualifies, they'd also be in this club (22). That means that there will be 20 or 21 teams with a coefficient of 20 or above, though it's technically possible for as few as 12 to survive to the R32. However, I'm betting that StPolten, SlvPraha, and Fiorentia get into the R32 directly, and at least 3 of the other highly-ranked teams get in. That'd be at least 18 teams with a rating of 20 or above, meaning not only would Arsenal and both Swedish teams (and clearly Juve and RVDV) be unseeded in the R32, but so would at least two other clubs in the 20-27 range. That is, if you have at least 18 of the teams rated 20 or above make it to the R32, then at one end of the scale you could see Medky Konin seeded, while at the other end of the scale you could see Twente (rated slightly higher than Fiorentia) unseeded - GintraU is guaranteed a R32 seed assuming they survive their preliminary group. ...I have no clue what will happen if exactly 14 or 15 of the 20+coefficient teams make it in, because then they'll have to break the Arsenal/Pitea/K-G tie somehow for the R32 seeding...
Here is the answer : D.7 Equal coefficients If two or more clubs or associations are ranked equally, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine their final rankings: ● their coefficients in the most recent of the seasons on which the rankings are based; ● their coefficients in the next most recent season in which they are not equal; ● drawing of lots
Coming back on the Round of 32 seeding story : Those who are guaranteed being seeded : 1 Lyon (FRA, holders) 129.865 2 Wolfsburg (GER) 112.575 3 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 99.865 4 Barcelona (ESP) 91.160 5 Bayern München (GER) 67.575 6 Slavia Praha (CZE) 59.870 7 Manchester City (ENG) 59.655 8 Brøndby (DEN) 50.045 9 Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 47.045 10 FC Zürich (SUI) 44.230 11 Glasgow City (SCO) 34.085 12 Atlético Madrid (ESP) 33.160 13 Sparta Praha (CZE) 32.870 Likely not be seeded : 14 Fiorentina (ITA) 26.890 (4 teams with higher coeff in qual) 15 St. Pölten (AUT) 20.270 ( 4-5 teams with higher coeff in qual) 16 Arsenal (ENG) 17.655 ( 6 teams with higher coeff in qual) Not seeded 17 Piteå (SWE) 17.655 18 Göteborg (SWE) 17.655 19 Juventus (ITA) 14.890 20 Ryazan-VDV (RUS) 14.580 21 Lugano (SUI) 10.230 22 Chertanovo (RUS) 8.580 And the qualifying round top coefficient: 1 LSK Kvinner (NOR) 42.205 2 BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ) 34.580 3 Gintra Universitetas (LTU) coefficient 27.930 – hosts 4 FC Twente (NED) 26.900 – hosts 5 Apollon LFC (CYP) 20.270 6 ŽFK Spartak (SRB) 17.955
Wow group 8 looks tough... Every team in that group is in the top 4 of their respective draw pot. Also funny to see Hibs and Cardiff in the same group! Too bad Linfield went to 8 instead of 3. No second-place teams going through this year, so it's gonna be a very stressful preliminary stage.
UEFA have made some important changes to the registration rules imo, they have aligned with the men's competition and handed a big advantage to big clubs, I hate that stuff: 40.07 As a rule, a player may not play in the competition for more than one club in thecourse of the same season. Exceptionally, however, a player who has been fieldedin the qualifying round is entitled to play for another club as from the roundof 32. Moreover, as from the quarter-finals, a player can be registered inaccordance with Paragraph 42.01 t o Paragraph 42.03. A substitute player who hasnot been fielded is entitled to play for another club in the course of the sameseason, provided that she is registered with the UEFA administration inaccordance with the present regulations. 42.01As of the quarter-finals, a club may register a maximum of three new eligibleplayers for the remaining matches in the current competition. Such registrationmust be completed by 18 March 2020 (24.00CET) at the latest. This deadlinecannot be extended.42.02Any or all of the players from the above quota of three may have been fielded foranother club in the qualifying round, round of 32 or round of 16. Also the summer League teams who change the core of their side are dead with that rule. See during the winter 13 with Arsenal Ladies : In 6 : Siobhan Chamberlain ( Bristol Academy), Casey Stoney ( Lincoln Ladies), Anouk Hoogendijk (Ajax Amsterdam), Christie Murray ( Glasgow City ), Yukari Kinga (INAC Kobe), Shinobu Ohno (Sayama FC), Out 11 : Lauren Bruton (Reading WFC), Kim Little (Seattle Reign), Stephanie Houghton ( Manchester City Ladies), Gemma Davison (Liverpool Ladies), Ellen White ( Notts County Ladies), Katie Chapman ( Chelsea Ladies), Gilly Flaherty ( Chelsea Ladies), Sophie Harris ( London Bees), Cherie Rowlands ( London Bees – end of loan), Ciara Grant (Reading WFC), Yvonne Tracy (Peamount Utd)
UWCL Qualifying round day 1 FOLLOW LIVE: The road to Vienna begins - #UWCL qualifying round day 1👇👇👇👇https://t.co/5bK69GvqUr pic.twitter.com/3YPMwPBCFm— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) August 7, 2019 Match tracker
Those six teams won yesterday, so it is not looking good for the seeding places on Fiorentina, Sankt-Polten and Arsenal. Obviously with only one side from each group qualifying anything can happen in the final two games. All the results are here
It's matchday 2 of the qualifying round and some teams can already go through today: #UWCL qualifying round matchday 2 starts at 10CET on Saturday - and @rscanderlecht are among the teams that could book a round of 32 spot with a game to spare as they face 2018/19 quarter-finalists @LSKKvinner at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium🏆👇https://t.co/w7CqaTKOON pic.twitter.com/jMyIGMaNK8— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) August 9, 2019
Braga are through to the knock-out stage after two games. They were third seed in the draw with a 3.630 coefficient. They won't be seeded obviously. Apollon Ladies are out. Group 1 Breidablik or Sarajevo Group 4 Minsk or Kharkhiv Group 5 Subotica or Ferencvaros Those three groups with two teams on six points.
Group 2 Mitrovica or Nreznica Group 3 Hibs or Pomurje Group 6 Biik or Vantaa Group 9 Gornik, Twente or Besiktas Group 10 Gintra or Vllaznia
Well, congrats to them for advancing; if they make a respectable showing in the third game and the R32 matches, I'll admit I was maybe a bit too harsh on them in the UEFA Elo thread.
Why is there qualifying for Champions League? I obviously don't know much about the process--but I get the impression everything with FIFA and UEFA has to be overstuffed and excessive. I thought CL competitors simply came from the top of the table in every league: the best teams from all the leagues battle it out. But it is obviously more complicated than that--why, I'm not sure. Why is there qualifying? Like the World Cup and most everything else in this sport, it seems too much.
There are loads of mediocre champions out there from small football nations that would be slaughtered in the main competition which would make the whole tournament look ridiculous. There would be too many 10-0 and 20-0 scores, wouldn't benefit anyone.
The Champions League is completely bloated and ridiculous. I read that when the process starts, there are between 79-81 teams. Why? Then comes three rounds of qualifying, after which the field is reduced to 32 teams. Whoopee! There shouldn't even be any qualifying. I thought CL was supposed to be the top teams from the European leagues competing, but it's obviously been expanded hideously, like everything in soccer--dragging the competition out for months. Qualifying belies the whole idea of a "champion's league," as does letting 3,4 5 teams from some leagues compete, as I read is the case. And now, of course, there's not just the Champions League but also the 2nd tier CL, called Europa League, and a coming 3rd tier. Oh, my.
@L'orange come on man, this is very basic stuff. Try the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_UEFA_Women's_Champions_League
In the 80's men's footie had 3 comps The Champions Cup, the Cup winner's Cup and the UEFA Cup... aka C1, C2 and C3. Money has changed all those comps. And in the women's game there are only 2 teams for the top12 nations. Awaiting a third team for the top 4 nations for years and years...